Final Thoughts....

My favorite blog post of the year was definitely about my online footprint. It was the first time I looked back on how technology has changed since I was young. It's an eye opening thing to think about. The way I was able to connect new ideas about online privacy and how I used to act when first getting into social media, not only made me laugh but also had a positive impact on my thoughts about my online footprint.

I also enjoyed talking about new technologies. I chose to write on my blog about the tablet, which was great to research because I just recently started using an IPad Pro for a lot of my school work.

Overall, the informartion I was putting on my blog was fun to write, but blogging in general has been difficult, because it is sometimes hard to know what write. Blogging has made me go outside of my comfort zone on sharing my opinion on information.

A lot of times, I would just be at a loss for words because of how shocking some of the information was. Especially with our EOTO presentations, and the TED talks, it's hard to write when you don't know what to think. But they were both really eye-opening things to learn.

I really enjoyed taking this class, and the new perspectives it has given me.

Ted Talks

Each of these videos makes you think. While it was alarming to hear about increasing location tracking, and phone surveillance, what impacted me the most, was the idea of an online tattoo.

While some people will tell you its not true, people my age think that when you delete something online it goes away, but it doesn't. Even if you cannot see it anymore, anything you put online is still there.

The TED talk was very right, what you put on the internet os out there forever, it is permanent, just like a tattoo. It really makes me wonder what my internet tattoo would look like. To take the idea a little further, I wonder if my online tattoo is a good one or a bad one. Is it appropriate? Is it messed up? Do I need to fix it?

These are all things that these TED talks have made me consider. It's scary that we don't all know and understand the internet and new technology. How we're being watched, and tracked, and listened to. If there anything I've learned in this class one of the most important would be to watch my online prescience carefully.

Com Law and Literacy

It's not the typical blog post, but I felt the need to talk about how much I enjoyed this class.
Many people talk about how much they dislike Com Law, but this class, while only two credits, was probably my favorite this semester.

The knowledge I gained about modern communication, principals, as well as the history of communication, gave me so much incite about the field I plan to enter. Learning so much about how the Constitution and how a document written so long ago affects our current media, is almost inspiring to me.

It has made me think so much more about what I want to do when I enter the career field.

MIT on Googles Ethics

This has to be one of the best articles i've ever read about ethics. The ironic title is a great prelude to the suggestions they give in the article.

All of the comments in this article tear Googles team apart. Before reading this I wasn't really aware that there were that many issues with the ethics of google, which is shocking since it is such a widely used platform in todays society.

Its rather alarming that so many people can use a social media or information platform and not know what information is being taken or how it being used. Its scary to think that there is so much about us on the internet that we cannot control.

One of my favorites comments was "first acknowledge the elephant in the room: Google's Al principals." I really loved how MIT had no fear absolutely telling Google, which is such a large company, telling them exactly what they're going wrong.

10/10 article, totally recommend reading!

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613281/google-cancels-ateac-ai-ethics-council-what-next/

EOTO presentations

While I thought that the information in my groups presentation was the most shocking, the others groups were also very informative. The presentation that I found the most interesting and informative, was the one on theories. Over-all theories are always very interesting to learn about because they effect everyone, but a lot of the time effects everyone differently. Of all the ones they presented, the Illusory Truth Effect was the most interesting to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=216HCZO-uiE

After listening to the presentation, I wanted to learn more, so I watched this video. What makes this theory so interesting to me is that I can see the impact it has in my life. When you hear something over and over, you really do begin to think it is true. This theory is how rumors are started which is really interesting to me. I see how this effects communications patterns, because this is how "false news" gets spread.

Total Information Awareness

Total Information Awareness is the name of a massive U.S. data mining project focused on scanning travel, financial and other data from public and private sources with the goal of detecting and preventing transnational threats to national security. This can also be called the Terrorist Information awareness act, which is part of the Homeland Security Act.

This is an image of the logo the Total Information Awareness Office that was in charge of this act and all of its software and data collection.

This program was created to collect information that could help the government prevent further attacks on the US. It was unmasked in 2002 and terminated in 2003, because of public backlash. When this occurred all of the software was transferred to the hands of the NSA where it is now used for counter terrorism measures.

Now there are both good and bad impacts surrounding this act. There is a way in which this could potentially invade the privacy of the American people, but isn't that worth keeping the country safe from terrorist attacks? The idea of this software is to have the incite to know where extremists are in our country and be able to know what they're doing in order to stop them.

To me this sounds like solely a positive impact. I don't think there should be a reason to fear the government knowing your information, unless you have something to hide. If you are a law abiding citizen, there should be no reason to worry about conversations with your family about dinner, or best friend about the boy you met the night before.

While there are some questionable aspects of this act. Overall, it shows how our government cares for the safety and well being of the American people.

My Online Footprint

The idea of an online presence is very interesting to me. When we were younger, and didn't know the dangers of an online footprint, googling your name was just a fun online activity. In fact, in middle school, it was an accomplishment to be the person with the most photos of themselves to show up. I would always take pride in knowing that I had multiple pictures even at a young age because of ties with my Uncle, who at the time had just become the first open gay ambassador of the United States of America. The photo below, is the photo of my family that would frequently appear when you googled my name, or even David Huebner, my uncles name.

Looking back, that was a very naive way to think. Scandal after scandal with facebook leaking personal information and selling your data to companies makes this little contest we used to find fun and entertaining seem so stupid. Just today I went back and did the same thing, I googled my name and looked for what information about me may pop up. 

These 4 photos came up almost immediately without the need for scrolling. The question is, while I did not personally post these, am I okay with them being connected to my online presence? 

https://www.google.com/search?q=erin+huebner&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip6p-uurbhAhUHvFkKHfbTDuUQ_AUIDigB&cshid=1554381623796309&biw=1440&bih=727

Luckily for me, everyone of these links speaks positively about me and things i've done in my lifetime. One article highlights my high school water polo team, who my senior year won the state championship for the 3rd year in a row. The article discusses my leadership as a senior captain, as well as the goals i contributed to help my team win. Leadership is a great quality looked for when entering the work force, so in the end this article could potentially have a positive impact. A second article was written about me traveling with the Princeton Tigers club water polo team, who I played with for 3 years, to the Junior Olympic tournament in California where we got 3rd place over-all out of a hundred plus teams from all over the US. This article doesn't really have a clear benefit to me, but it also is very positive, and causes no need for alarm. The last article, talks about my biggest middle school accomplishment, becoming the first Student Liaison on the North Penn Educational Foundation, which is a foundation that provides grants to teachers in my school district to aide them in providing new and innovative ways to educate our students. I like that this article is linked to my name, not only because it was one of my most prided moments, but also because it shows good qualities that employers look for. The article shows my ambition, dedication, and generosity. The forth picture is simply my LinkedIn profile, which I check on a weekly basis to make sure it is representing me in a way I see fit. 

As for my own social media presence, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and LinkedIn are about all I ever use. For all of these platforms, I carefully watch what is posted and what I am tagged in.  I have one simple question that always helps me decide what is appropriate to post; the woman that taught me how to swim in her backyard pool, coached me when I joined summer swim team, coached my High school swim team, got me my first job as a lifeguard at her country club, and now will be my boss as I become an assistant swim coach for her team, follows my social media. The easy question is "Is this okay for Coach Rob to see" if its a yes, then post it! If i even have to question, then it wouldn't be good for my online presence as a young adult looking to be successful after college.